Market Slips Into Red Tracking Global Peers, Sensex Tanks 969 Points In Opening Trade

The top laggard stocks in Sensex include Tata Steel, which fell nearly 9 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank.

(Getty Images)

New Delhi: The stock markets slipped into a red zone as the Sensex tanked 969 points at 32,748 and Nifty losing 326 points to open at 9,533 on Monday due to weak global cues. On Thursday, Fitch Ratings has downgraded the viability rating (VR) of four top lenders including State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Axis Bank because of the deteriorating operating environment as a result of Covid-19. The rating agency has also cut the forecast for India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the financial year ending March 2021 to 0.8 per cent from a pre-pandemic forecast of 5.1 per cent. The top worst-performing stocks in Sensex include Tata Steel, which fell nearly 9 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, and ICICI Bank. After Reliance Industries announced investment of Rs 5,655.75 crore private-equity firm Silver Lake in Jio Platforms, the stock also witnessed a fall of more than 2 per cent. After the investment the values Jio Platforms is estimated at an equity value of ₹ 4.90 lakh crore and an enterprise value of ₹ 5.15 lakh crore which represents a 12.5 per cent  premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook's investment. On Thursday, the rupee strengthened by 57 paise to end at a one-month high of 75.09 per US dollar on Thursday, propelled by foreign fund inflows and strong cues in the domestic market. The stocks in Wall Street slipped into red as investors sold off sharply on Friday on US President threatening to revive tariffs against China in response to the covid-19 pandemic that has bought the economies to a standstill. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 617.09 points, or 2.53 per cent, to 23,728.63, the S&P 500 lost 81.13 points, or 2.79 per cent, to 2,831.3 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 284.60 points, or 3.2 per cent, to 8,604.95. Meanwhile, Australia's XAO opened flat at 5,333.90 points, at 8:14 am IST on Monday. On the other hand, Hang Seng dropped over 3 per cent and Taiwan TSEC 50 Index slipped by 2.5 per cent. Singapore's 4qSGX Nifty was down 4.5 per cent. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed for three days and will reopen on May 7. Watch: (With inputs from agencies)